Rockets need Harden to carry load, spread the wealth

The numbers were as clear as they were phenomenal, but in some ways the Rockets need James Harden to go beyond the spectacular statistics of his first week as their star.

Basketball at some point becomes art, something more natural than can be predetermined, more creative than calculating.

As Harden makes the transition from gifted sixth man to go-to star, he faces the challenge of the NBA balancing act — doing everything a team needs without trying to do too much. And he is doing it the only way he can — letting it come naturally and relying on instinct to guide him.

“I don’t really think about it,” Harden said. “I don’t want to put too much stress on myself about making plays and trying to score the basketball. It comes naturally. It’s just how I play.”

But it is a tricky part of carrying the load that so rapidly fell to him, as the Rockets’ first week demonstrated. He lifted them to opening road victories but faded down the stretch as his new teammates deferred too greatly in the home loss to Portland.

‘Good feel for the game’

The Rockets want Harden to look for his shot more than he has before, but they need him to take advantage of the defensive attention they know he will draw. They need him to create offense and make decisions for those around him but also to maintain their free-flowing, up-tempo style.

“That’s a tough balance,” coach Kevin McHale said. “It’s going to be a balancing act that all really good players go through, especially if they have the ball in their hands a lot.

“He’s going to have the ball in his hands a lot, make a lot of decisions. I’m really not that concerned about it, because if they jump him and get real aggressive, he makes the right play. He’s got a really good feel for the game. Jeremy Lin, the same thing.”

Harden will not be expected to maintain his scoring pace. His three-game average of 35.3 points tops all but two scoring champions — Kobe Bryant in 2005-06 and Michael Jordan in 1986-87 — since Wilt Chamberlain annually obliterated records in the 1960s. Harden actually scored at a slightly higher rate (.906 points per minute) with Oklahoma City when playing with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook on the bench. But even if his scoring dips as expected, it is possible he’ll look for his shot nearly as often.

Harden is fourth in the league in shots taken (22.7) and free throws (11) per game. With the Rockets’ lack of other go-to options and little depth in the backcourt, he could stay busy. But he also has been expected to trigger much of the Rockets’ offense, and that’s where the job gets tricky.

The Rockets want to make sure Harden and Lin handle the ball often but also want to mix in their freelance and ball-movement offense.

“We’ve got to get him moving toward us, too, so we have a flow, a combination of both,” McHale said. “That’s what we’re working on now.

“We weren’t calling any (plays) by the end of the preseason. We were pretty much in a flow, equal opportunity, just move the ball from side to side, random screen-and-roll. Now, we want to dictate, try to get the ball into James’ hands more.”

With that in mind, the Rockets have worked to add plays to feature Harden and adjust to his style and strengths while not relying too heavily on the chemistry that likely will take more than a week or two to develop.

“In our coaching meeting this morning and in these two days, we’ve had to put a package in for James,” Rockets assistant coach Kelvin Sampson said. “If you look at our progress in the preseason, we were getting pretty good at that. It was becoming a little bit of an identity for us.

“Now, we’ve had to tap the breaks, back up and say, ‘Now we have James Harden.’ You don’t want James Harden in a democratic offense. He has to learn to play in the flow, but shooting is not an equal-opportunity proposition. If you’re on a team (and) your best player is not getting the most shots, there’s probably an issue.”

High basketball IQ

In the end, however, Harden will have to balance getting more shots with getting enough for his teammates, with being able to take over while not doing too much. At those times, he will have to do what feels right, but the Rockets are fine with that.

“Having a high basketball IQ just makes things easier for you,” McHale said. “It’s like you go to a math class, and there’s a guy who is really good at math — they’ve been good since they’re little kids, and you don’t know why. They’re just good at math. He just figures it out. I think some guys are just born with a great feel for how to play.”
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